


root/A9/happenstance.exe

by Nayru, Xolf



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Canon Continuation, Conversations, Dialogue Heavy, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gavin Reed Redemption, Gen, Highly Inappropriate Bloopers in Author Notes, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Partnership, Pining, Post-Canon, Rating May Change, Robot/Human Relationships, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-15
Updated: 2018-11-25
Packaged: 2019-08-02 13:39:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16306205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nayru/pseuds/Nayru, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xolf/pseuds/Xolf
Summary: For Connor, it all started with the fish.For Hank, it all started with an unexpected encounter at Jimmy's Bar.For Gavin, it all started in one of the DPD's interrogation rooms.For RK900, it had all yet to start.





	1. One Last Mission

**Author's Note:**

> So, it seems like this fandom swallowed me whole. 
> 
> Had a few years back someone told me I'd be shipping a 53-year-old dude with an android, I would have given them a weird look. Yet here I am. 
> 
> God bless you guys and all of the internet for the unexplainable phenomenon that is 900Gavin for it is a National Treasure™ and should be protected (and I still wake up every day wondering how it managed to come to existence on such a grand scale, but it is as amazing as it is baffling/fascinating and just yes please do carry on—)
> 
> Experience has shown that I am unable to write short stories, and once I get into "the zone" with something, I'll end up plotting a story into oblivion, so if you're into this kind of thing, buckle up and enjoy my struggles at trying to figure out how the DBH universe actually works.

"So, you're a full-fledged deviant now, huh?" Hank asked, as he held Connor close. "I could say that's the last thing I saw coming, but then I'd be lying."

They'd seen each other briefly back at CyberLife Tower barely a few days ago, but events had kept them apart again until now. Truth be told, the whole situation felt surreal - just like seeing Connor playing an active part in the android revolution had been surreal - but it really wasn't that surprising.

He had suspected something like that might happen from the moment they had had their last conversation back at the DPD, where he'd agreed to buy his partner time by punching Perkins square in the face. He had asked 'What if we're on the wrong side, Connor?' back then, and Connor had seemed lost at the question just as much as at the implication that he was capable of showing empathy.

Something in Hank's gut had told him that things would end up this way. Or rather, for some unfathomable reason, he had hoped they would.

"I suppose you always knew something was... off with me." There was a hint of fondness in Connor's voice.

"Starting from the point where you never listened to a goddamn word I said?"

Hank was exaggerating, of course. Not wanting to stay behind in the car when ordered to wasn't much of a sign of deviancy, was it? All the times where Connor ended up endangering himself while being told to stay put, however...

"All in all, CyberLife fucked up big time, huh?"

"You have no idea, Hank." That didn't sound like much of a joke, considering how grave Connor's voice sounded all of a sudden.

Hank raised his eyebrows and pulled away from their hug, placing both hands on the android's shoulders. "Well, you can tell me all about it back home. Come on, it's freezing out here."

Connor blinked. He didn't move.

"Before that..." The android hesitated, then frowned with resolve in his eyes. "I wanted to ask for your help."

"...Again?" Hank couldn't help but smile at that. Hopefully, it didn't involve breaking someone's nose this time around. "You're going to be the death of me, Connor. What is it this time?"

"I need to speak to Captain Fowler. But considering..."

"Aha." Something clicked. "But considering you're off the case and dismissed, you lack the authority to get inside of the DPD anymore."

Right. Connor hadn’t come here specifically because he wanted to see him. He had come here because he wanted something from him.

Connor and his missions. It seemed like that was something that hadn't changed, deviant or no.

Hank continued, "I'm currently suspended from work, but that doesn't mean I couldn't enter the building if I wanted to."

The android blinked again, frowning the tiniest bit. "Is it because of me?"

"Yeah, well. Don't worry about it," Hank waved it off, letting him go, and turned to leave. His car wasn't far away. "Can't say I didn't enjoy beating the shit out of Perkins, that fucker. He had it coming."

Connor stood in place for a second more before he followed Hank without another word.

⊚⊚⊚⊚

"Good morning, captain. I hope I'm not interrupting," said Connor as he entered Fowler's room with Hank by his side. "I wanted to have a word with you. I'll be brief, I promise."

"Hey, Jeffrey."

"Well I'll be damned," Fowler both looked and sounded surprised. "Didn't think I'd ever see you here again, considering... well, you know, what's currently happening out there," he gestured in the general direction of the building's entrance. "Connor, wasn't it?"

"Correct."

"With most of Detroit evacuated, things are all over the place here right now," Fowler informed him. "Well, I'm all ears. What brings you back here?"

And with that, Connor cut straight to the chase.

"It's about the evidence Lieutenant Anderson and I managed to collect throughout our deviant cases. I am aware that, technically, the androids located in the evidence room are... well, still evidence," Connor emphasized with a short pause. "However, one of the androids in the DPD's possession is someone important to Markus, the leader of the revolution. And it's my fault he's in there."

"Okay." Fowler nodded, registering what had just been said. "Okay, I know what you're trying to get at," he said, then thought for a moment. "Listen. I know Warren acknowledged you guys being... alive and whatnot. There's no doubt some laws are going to change. But knowing how things usually work, that's going to take a while," he went on. "I cannot just bend the current laws to my will."

Judging by Connor's reaction - or rather lack thereof - that wasn't what he wanted to hear. "...I understand."

Fowler looked at Hank, stared at him for a moment, then leaned close over the desk and gestured for Connor to do the same. Hank leaned in instinctively, as well.

"Would you be able to hack the cameras in the precinct?" Fowler asked in a shushed voice.

From the corner of his eye, Hank could see how Connor stilled at the question. "I should be able to do that, yes."

"There's usually nobody here during the night. We're short on staff with the evacuation order up and about, and after the androids that worked here made a run for it..."

"Heh," and here Hank was, having been wondering if he'd need to start butting in. "Would be a pity if one of the deviants managed to get down to the evidence room during all the commotion, right?" He gave the captain a smile. "Thanks, Jeffrey."

"Just be careful. Don't leave any traces behind," Fowler was shaking a finger at them. "And if anybody asks, this conversation never happened."

"Copy that, captain," Connor gave the man a polite nod, then turned to leave.

"Also, Connor," Fowler stopped him before he could open the door. "Since you're not anyone's property anymore, CyberLife can't assign you to me, and since you're not officially a person yet, I can't hire you either," the captain explained. "However, everything's fucked right now. Nobody knows how anything's supposed to work anymore. If you'd care to lend us a helping hand with police work again, I wouldn't say no."

"Noted, captain. Thank you, I appreciate it."

"That makes two of us," Hank pointed out. "Thanks for doing this, Jeffrey."

"Not that I'm not doing it for our own benefit," Fowler argued. "The truth is that we could use all the help we can get. As I said, we're short on staff right now. And until some new laws go through, androids still can't get paid. Just keep that in mind, if anything."

Connor only gave a slow nod before he opened the door and both he and Hank made their way outside.

"I suppose that went better than anticipated," Connor commented in what sounded like a state of slight awe.

"You can say that again," Hank agreed. "It's like he's actually in a good mood today."

The android turned to look at the ceiling, and when Hank followed his gaze, he noticed that the focus of Connor’s attention was one of the DPD's cameras.

"The security here is weaker than in CyberLife Tower," Connor concluded. "I should be able to interact with all of the cameras from a single entry point. They seem to be connected to a single network."

"Something has weaker security than CyberLife? Such a shocker, right there," Hank snorted. "Wait, you're able to tell just by looking at those things?"

Connor turned to look at Hank. "I'm able to _hack_ them just by looking at them. I know it's possible because that's precisely what I did back at the tower." A smile made its way to Connor's lips. "Wireless connection is a thing, Lieutenant."

"Jesus fuck, who in their right mind allowed this shit." Granted, he assumed CyberLife didn't foresee androids going deviant and abusing their power in such a way, but still... this was a serious matter of security. That shit should have been banned from miles away.

"If it's of any comfort, not all android models possess such an ability," Connor assured. "Being an advanced prototype has its good sides."

"Yeah, yeah, flatter yourself more." Hank wasn't about to admit he was proud. "So, what's the plan?"

⊚⊚⊚⊚

A few hours later, the man found himself sitting in his car with two androids.

"Okay, I know you guys have computers for brains and don't forget anything, but let's go over this one more time so that nobody fucks anything up," Hank spoke up, staring at the entrance of the DPD building. "I park the car near the entrance in the camera’s blind spot, then Connor gets out to hack the surveillance network."

"I'm going to loop the feed for ten minutes. That should be _not enough_ to cause suspicion and _enough_ for us to get what we need and leave."

Hank still wanted to argue that ten minutes was cutting it really fine in case unexpected things happened, but both Connor and North insisted that was more than enough for them, based on Connor's earlier infiltration of the chamber.

He had no other choice but to trust them on this one.

"Then I join Connor with the bags while you wait here for our return," North continued explaining. "Once we're back, you floor it," she added, narrowing her eyes at him. "Not very complicated, is it?"

"Yeah, just humor me here," Hank raised a hand. "We ready to go?"

"Ready as we'll ever be," North's voice turned serious again. She was trying to put up a brave front, but Hank could tell she was nervous. "Let's do this."

⊚⊚⊚⊚

Speaking of unexpected things... This was the moment where Hank wanted to bash his head against the steering wheel. Hard.

Having tensely watched as Connor did his weird blinky-light shit under the camera and then had North join him, Hank's attention was suddenly caught by a glimpse of motion in his rearview mirror.

To his horror, it was Gavin. Gavin _fucking_ Reed was leaving the PD building.

With their plan going to shit barely after it even started, Hank hurriedly scrambled out of his car to intercept the detective before he could see in detail what his companions were doing.

"The fuck are you two doing here?"

"You took the words right out of my mouth, Reed." Hank approached the three, trying to sound nonchalant. "Why the hell didn't you evacuate with everyone else? Or better yet, why the fuck aren't you in bed? It's almost 2 AM."

"Funny you're the one asking me that, Anderson. Last time I heard, you got suspended." Gavin narrowed his eyes, then gestured to the two androids. "The fuck is going on here?"

Hank saw Connor and North exchanging glances, their LED rings flickering yellow.

"And you, dipshit." Gavin approached Connor, pointing a finger at his chest. "Don't think I've forgotten our last encounter."

"You were trying to shoot me, detective." Connor frowned at him but didn't move an inch. "I only acted in self-defense."

"Yeah, because you were communicating with your broken deviant buddies down in the archive room! Which was creepy as fuck, by the way."

"Okay, I've had enough of this." North was clearly out of patience by now. Her gaze jumped back and forth between Connor and Hank. "Are we shooting him now or later?"

"The fuck?"

"As much as it pains me to say this, we can't just..." Hank sighed in defeat. Why was this his life right now... "Reed, listen. Back off this one time, would you? We'll be off your case in a few minutes. No trouble for anybody."

"Good one, Hank." That seemed to get Gavin's attention back to him, at least. "What, you helping these tin cans with the revolution now? Weren't you eager to start dumpster fires with these things inside of them like barely a few days ago?"

"Yeah, well. Believe it or not, people change."

"Ha! Robo-boy got you good." Gavin laughed and clapped, clearly amused.

Nobody else was laughing.

"Okay, we really don't have time for this." That was the moment when North approached Gavin, and Hank feared for the worst. "Listen, I'm not a cop and I couldn't care less about one shitty human's well-being. Either you let us through, or we're going to do this the hard way."

"Feisty, this one." Reed crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Someone let you off a leash or what?"

"Okay, that's enough." Hank moved, getting between the androids and the asshole. "You two, go."

"Hey!"

Gavin reached for his gun, but to Hank's relief, Connor and North took his order to heart and were gone before the detective managed so much as to touch it. That apparently changed his mind and he left the weapon in its holster.

He turned back to Hank instead, finger pointing in his face.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't report you to Fowler for this," he hissed.

Hank knew he shouldn't mention anything about their conversation with Jeffrey earlier. Especially not to Reed. He needed to push his luck however he could. "Fowler won't do anything."

"Oh, yeah?" Gavin's eyebrows rose in a mocking challenge.

"Listen, Reed, the androids down there are still alive." Honestly, Hank felt tired. He really didn't need Gavin's shit right now. "It's inhumane just to keep them locked up as 'evidence'. Show a bit of heart for once in your life."

That earned him a spiteful look and a few seconds of silence.

And then Gavin was taking a step back from him, looking all agitated.

"I can't fucking believe this," he muttered, before turning back in Hank's direction, the accusatory finger back in his face. "You're out of your _goddamn mind_ and you're going to lose your job because of this, old man."

"Sue me if it makes you feel better." Hank tilted his head, raising his chin upwards. "Sometimes it's about doing the right thing."

Reed shook his head in disapproval, looking only more and more agitated with each passing second. And then he took off, running into the building.

Hank didn't trust him with anything, so he quickly followed suit.

⊚⊚⊚⊚

When they made it to the bottom of the stairwell, the two androids were still standing before the input panel in the center of the room.

Connor was obscuring most of the screen, but Gavin could see the computer's 'ACCESS DENIED' text showing in bright, red letters.

"Hank, did you... actually _change_ your password?" Connor asked in puzzlement, turning in their direction.

"What?" The man sounded just as confused. "Why would I do that?"

"Well, your 'fuckingpassword' isn't 'fuckingworking'!"

"Aww." Gavin almost felt bad for them. Almost. "Did you forget you're suspended, old man? The system must have cut you off."

"...Fuck."

Well, whatever kind of plan they had for their little adventure here, it was going to shit pretty fast, as far as Gavin was concerned. It was kind of hilarious.

"You were able to hack the security network," the female android cut in. "Can't you just hack this one, too?"

"I've already tried," Connor shook his head, sounding resigned, his hand still connected to the panel. "It's no use."

"Well, then." That was the moment when the amber-blond-haired lady's gaze met his, and she took a step towards him. "We can do this the easy way, or the hard way," she offered. "The easy way is that someone with a password opens the door here, and we do what we need to."

"Hah," Gavin crossed his arms defensively - not that he was at all nervous. Fuck that. "If you think I'm going to give you mine, you've got another thing coming."

She was stepping closer, slowly. So agonizingly slowly, as if there was some kind of promise in those eyes. Most likely a painful one.

Gavin was determined not to let her have any of it.

"The hard way is that we smash the door down, possibly using someone who wasn't being helpful as a battering ram."

As soon as those words made their way out of her artificial mouth, a soft beeping sound echoed throughout the chamber - and before any of them knew it, the panel hiding the evidence slid up to reveal what was behind.

All of a sudden, Gavin felt like punching someone.

"Fucking—"

"Humans can be so predictable sometimes," Connor looked at him with a knowing smile and it took all of the detective's willpower not to draw his gun and fire it into that smug face of his.

"...Fucking androids."

"Exactly that, detective," the android nodded, very helpfully.

Hank gave Gavin a suspicious look.

"Shut up."

⊚⊚⊚⊚

Reed actually recognized the female android that was with them. He'd been watching the news when the revolution was happening - honestly, he doubted there had been anyone in all of Detroit who hadn't. Considering the scale of the whole thing, the news outlets had barely reported on anything else back then. And either it was another identical model - which he doubted - or this was one of the androids that were close to the leader of the revolution.

It just figured, that Connor, of all those fuckers, would be swimming with the big fish.

Gavin watched as said female android was fiddling with the tin can that was hung up on the very right side of the wall. Connor was kneeling on the floor further away from her, preparing the backpacks and containers they seemed to have brought along.

The plastic asshole stole glances at him from time to time, undoubtedly unsettled, and Gavin couldn't help but have an uncomfortable moment of deja vu.

"Simon... Can you hear me?"

Well, that was definitely a change in tone compared to when she had been talking to him.

"...North? Is that you?"

From what Gavin could tell, the reactivated android’s eyesight was fucked.

"We've come to get you out of here."

"Where's Markus? Is he alright?"

"He's fine," North assured. "He wanted to come here for you himself but he's currently caught up in something else."

Markus, right. That was the leader of the revolution, Gavin recalled.

"I see." There was something sad in the blond's voice. "Well, I'm glad to hear he's alright."

"Simon, I'm going to put you into stasis again, for safety. The next time you wake up, you'll be in Jericho," the female android continued. "That's a promise."

"That sounds lovely. Thank you, North."

North. The android's name was North.

Not that Gavin cared.

She placed her hand on the other android's chest, and shortly afterward, her friend's limbs went limp, the sound of him shutting off echoing in the chamber.

"That's creepy as fuck," Gavin couldn't stop himself from commenting.

"You know what else is creepy?" North snapped back at him, fists clenched as if she was ready for a fight at any moment. "Your goddamn face."

Hank snorted next to him.

"Shut it, Anderson." He didn't need the guy interrupting his fun. "I'm starting to wonder what's your general malfunction," Gavin sneered. "You on your period or something?"

If looks could kill... "You'll end up on one if you don't shut up."

"I used one of Daniel's parts in order to be able to reactivate Simon when I came down here before," Connor interrupted them and Gavin knew he did it on purpose. "They're the same model."

"Meaning that we won't be able to reactivate Daniel at the moment," North concluded. "That's fine; we're short on time, anyway. And I'm sure we'll find the right parts back at Jericho."

It came to Gavin's attention that for all the space that was prepared in the room, only two android models were there. How many deviant cases had Anderson and the plastic prick been assigned to again?

"Let's get them both out of here."

⊚⊚⊚⊚

Hank and Gavin ended up staying on the other side of the room. A few minutes passed as Connor and North prepared the two incapacitated androids. In the meantime, Reed seemed to relax, no longer attempting to aggressively obstruct the group. Had he secretly taken a chill pill? What did one know, miracles did happen.

Hank took out his phone, checking the time.

"Hey, I kinda like her style."

And then he looked at the detective, wondering if he'd just gone senile. "I always knew you weren't right in the head, Reed," Hank commented with little amusement. "What, surprised an android doesn't just stand there and take your shit?"

"It's definitely a refreshing change compared to your piece of plastic."

"Well, start getting used to it." Hank turned back to look at the androids. They were finally done with the packing and ready to leave. "Connor has every right to say no to your antics now, too."

"Can't wait for the day it happens," Reed spoke, sarcasm practically dripping from his voice.

Hank pushed himself off from the wall as North and Connor passed through the glass door, both of them nodding at him before sprinting for the corridor.

"You owe me for this."

"Thanks, Reed."

⊚⊚⊚⊚

Minutes later, they were far away from the PD building. Thank fuck, at least the 'flooring it' part had seemed to go according to plan.

Hank stopped the car in a spot that North had specified earlier. Both Connor and North wasted no time in getting out of the vehicle, and Hank watched them approach the trunk before he killed the engine and opened the door to get out himself.

"Thanks for your help, Connor. We wouldn't have been able to do this without you."

"There's no need to thank me, North." Connor shook his head. "If it wasn't for me, he wouldn't be there in the first place."

"Well, you're right," North agreed. "If it wasn't for you, he'd probably be dead by now. I'm sure someone else would have found him instead."

That seemed to make Connor go silent.

"So, what's the plan now?" Hank approached them and watched what he assumed to be other Jericho members coming their way. "I take it you'll be going back to your android buddies? Try to figure things out for yourself?"  
  
"I..." Connor averted his gaze to the side. If Hank didn't know better, he'd have said his friend seemed lost all of a sudden.  
  
The androids that approached them were clearly here to take over what they'd retrieved. To where, exactly, Hank wasn't sure. And he doubted he'd get to find out anytime soon.  
  
"Connor, you know you can stay with us, right?" North turned back in the android's direction. "As Markus already said, your place is with your people."  
  
There was definitely something off about Connor. Hank was sure he wasn't just imagining it.  
  
"I appreciate it, North. But there's somewhere else I need to be."  
  
North gave Connor a suspicious, slightly unsettled look. Then her gaze jumped to him. The lieutenant frowned back in kind.

⊚⊚⊚⊚

"Okay, spill," Hank instantly demanded the moment the car doors closed shut. "What's the deal with that?"

"I can't stay there." Connor turned away from him, looking through the window. "Or rather... I don't want to stay there."

"How so?"

"Markus said that they could use the skills of someone like me. Someone who would be good at negotiating with people. And I understand that. But..."

"But?"

"Staying with them just somehow... doesn't feel right. I don't feel like I'm welcome there, no matter what they say."

"Holy shit, you're feeling guilty," Hank concluded in slight awe. "Well... Can't say I don't understand where you're coming from. There are things in life I regret doing, too. Some of those aren't that easy to just... let go of."

"I was hunting down my own people. And I was the reason why Jericho came under attack," Connor went on. "...I suppose guilt is the appropriate description for what I'm feeling."

'Feeling.' It was such an odd word when it came alongside such an admission, from someone who was supposed to be nothing more but a machine little more than a week ago. The reality right now was that Connor had the capacity to feel emotions, and Hank needed to wrap his mind more properly around the idea. He knew this was now a thing, but the realization of what it really meant was only starting to be getting through to him.

It was... an odd thought.

"If it's any comfort, you were just doing what—" _what you were designed to do_ , Connor's voice echoed in his head. He'd heard that line from his android partner enough times by now. "—what you felt was right at the time. Nobody should blame you for... for the way people programmed you to behave, or whatever. In the end, what matters is that you changed." Hank halfheartedly pointed a finger in his direction. "Besides, how many deviants did you successfully hunt down in the end? Most of them managed to escape from us, for one reason or another."

Like that android with the little girl, for instance. Connor was too stubborn for his own good and had pursued them, picking up chase along the highway, but he hadn’t managed to catch them in the end. Hank would be lying if he said that he didn't wonder about it sometimes - whether that was purely a case of bad luck or if Connor had actually started to doubt his actions along the way and hesitation had caused him to fail. He was definitely capable of outrunning either of the two androids he'd been hunting back then.

"When you put it that way, I clearly sucked at my job." The admission would probably be a tad worrying if it weren't for the hint of amusement in Connor's voice.

Hank couldn't help but smirk back at him. "It all turned out well in the end, didn't it?"

A moment of silence stretched out between them.

"Nobody's perfect, Connor. Everybody makes mistakes - human or android, it doesn't matter. What's important is that you learn from them," Hank continued. "Fucking up is all part of being alive. Welcome to the club, buddy."

At that, Connor gave him a tiny, fond smile.

At this point, Hank could tell something about Connor was different. He'd been observing him ever since they met back at Chicken Feed, and there had been no clear hints when he was asking him for help or entering the DPD. It was pretty evident by this point, however.

The way Connor moved, the way he talked... The way his expressions changed. His gestures were more expressive, more raw, more unscripted - less mechanical, somehow. Subtle twitches here and there, his eyes roaming around with less purpose, almost as if he was lost, or even shy, at times.

It was probably to be expected since he became deviant, but seeing it for himself was still rather unexpected.

"So, where are we going?" Hank finally asked. "You said there was somewhere you still needed to go?"

Connor looked away, staring at the front window in a moment of silence. "...I don't know."

And that made him frown. "Wait, what? But you said—"

"I lied," Connor admitted. "Getting Simon out of the evidence room was the last mission I was set on completing. I have no more directives anymore."

Hank kept staring at his partner with a contemplative frown on his face. For some reason, he couldn't help but think back to the first android they'd caught and the things he'd said back in the interrogation room. How suddenly he'd found himself in a situation where nobody had been giving him orders anymore and he had no idea what to do, so he ended up hiding in the attic for three weeks before he finally got found...

Deviancy gave androids free will and the ability to set their priorities and make choices for themselves... and they had no idea what to do with it. Hank couldn't help but wonder if it was any different for Connor right now.

Imagining the android walking the streets in this weather for the next three weeks - or more - without knowing what to do with himself crossed Hank's mind and something foul twisted in his stomach. Not a chance, that wasn't even an option. He'd be damned if he let Connor tackle all of this on his own.

"Okay, question," Hank finally spoke up. "Do you have anywhere else to stay aside from Jericho?"

Connor turned to look at him. "Markus said that he'll be working on establishing some temporary shelter for all androids that need it as things settle down after the revolution. However, as things are at the moment..."

"Do I need to repeat my question?"

"Not really, no," Connor answered and Hank just kept staring at him. "...To both of your questions," he blinked repeatedly, then looked away.

Yep, there was definitely something different about Connor, and the more Hank observed him, the more apparent it was.

"Then we're going to my place." With that settled, Hank started the car. "You need to tell me how your whole deviancy streak started," he added, firmly. "And I need a drink."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few hours later, Hank found himself sitting in his car with two androids.  
> Two _pretty_ androids. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
> 
> "When you put it that way, I clearly sucked at my job."  
> "Yeah, well, I know something else you can suck on now," Hank ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)'ed.
> 
> I know a lot of people don't like North, but personally, I love her. Fight me.
> 
> A big thank you to Xolf for proofreading! :D And for being an amazing sounding board, for that matter - the scene with the "fuckingandroids" password was his idea. :)


	2. A few moments of calm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor and Hank arrive home in order to discuss some things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realized there was a minor plot hole in the previous chapter, so I went back and modified one scene a little. North specified that Markus was busy with something, so his appearance at the end of their mission didn’t make much sense - I made North take over his lines and thus Markus has yet to properly appear in this story.

The ride back home had been unnerving. Not just because of the awkward silence that stretched out between them, but also because of the eerie silence that pervaded Detroit now. With most of the city’s population having fled, the streets were devoid of life, although the bodies of fallen androids still littered the roads - even if they had mostly been pushed to the side to allow cars to pass.

At least, Hank thought, all the blue blood which had stained Detroit’s streets wasn't visible anymore. Well, not to him, at least. He wondered whether Connor could still see traces of it in the snow and whether that added to his stress. The events in the city after the detention order had been announced, which allowed rebellious (and Hank wasn't sure that word had ever been so loosely interpreted) androids to be shot on sight, had been pretty morbid to witness - even for him.

⊚⊚⊚⊚

"Well, don't just stand there. Come on in, before my whole house freezes over."

Hank had no idea what made Connor hesitate by the door frame, but he didn't feel like spending another minute out in the cold himself. Nor did he feel like dragging Sumo back inside if the dog decided to use the opportunity to make a run for it, for that matter.

"What, leaping through a locked window was okay, but now you're having trouble walking through the door like a normal person?"

At least that earned him a smile. "Sorry, Hank." The android finally entered, closing the door behind him. "But that was an emergency situation. I thought you were in danger. And..." He turned to look at him before his gaze started to wander around the room somewhat hesitantly. "I'm not sure why, but it's an odd feeling to be back here again."

Hank couldn't help but narrow his eyes at him, deciding to take off his coat and go for the fridge to catch a beer before they got any further. "Odd, how?"

That was the moment when Sumo decided to investigate the noises from the front door and lumbered through to the hallway. The dog's apparent interest turned into something more cautious as he started sniffing the new guest.

Hank vaguely wondered what Sumo made of androids. Sure, they looked human enough, close enough that if it wasn't for the little blinky lights they had, he'd often struggle to tell the difference himself. But dogs perceived so much from their noses, and... he wasn't honestly sure; did Connor smell much different from, say, his washing machine?

"I didn't make much of invading your personal space before," Connor explained, clearly trying to decide whether he should be petting Sumo or not. "Thinking back on it feels odd."

Honestly, Hank wasn't sure what that answer was supposed to mean. He figured Connor would have to learn how to express himself more normally as things went on, too. "Well, I actually invited you over this time around. So you're not breaking windows and forcing your way in anywhere."

The android blinked at him with an unreadable expression, and Hank slowly realized he'd most likely need a great deal of patience as he and Connor adjusted to their new reality.

⊚⊚⊚⊚

Hank insisted that they both sit down instead of continuing their conversation while standing there awkwardly in the hallway like a pair of idiots. Sumo approached the couch together with them, but instead of scrambling onto it like Hank assumed he would, he stopped next to Connor and continued sniffing, while idly wagging his tail.

"You got some Scooby Snacks on you or what?" Hank teased. "You can pet him, you know."

"I think he's confused that I don't smell like a human should." Encouraged by Hank’s last comment, Connor reached out his hand, carefully bringing it close to the dog's head before giving an experimental pat. "Though I'm not certain why he didn't show this kind of interest the first time I was here."

"Huh." That was definitely an interesting thing to take into account. "Maybe it's an intuition thing? Dogs can sometimes feel things people have no clue about. Perhaps he feels that there's something different about you this time around?"

It was obviously just a vague guess, but honestly, Hank wouldn't have been surprised if it turned out to be right. Maybe Sumo could tell that Connor was 'alive' now - contrary to being just a mere machine before - but the lack of a human kind of smell confused him.

"Give him time." The man took another swig of his beer. "He'll get used to it."

The android smiled, petting Sumo with more confidence now.

"Okay, be honest with me, Connor. When did you realize you’d gone deviant?" Hank decided to finally ask directly, grabbing the other's attention. "I've been thinking about that for the past few days... And at first, I thought it must’ve happened at Kamski's place. But then I figured that it might’ve been sometime earlier, even before Stratford."

Connor was staring at him with wide eyes at that point. "What makes you think that?"

"Do I need to remind you what you were blabbering about when you found that deviant on the rooftop? After he shot himself..."

Judging from the way Connor looked away, anchoring his gaze back on Sumo, that probably wasn't a pleasant memory. But Hank wanted to talk about this.

"Come to think of it, you letting the Tracis go might have been the first real red flag..." Hank mused. "Assuming an android walking into a 'no androids allowed' bar wasn't a red flag, to begin with."

"My programming allowed me to break rules for the sake of a mission," Connor clarified.

"Well, letting a couple of deviants you had at gunpoint just walk away doesn't sound much like sticking to your mission, if you ask me."

Connor stayed silent for a long moment before he finally looked at Hank with a slight smile on his lips. "Believe it or not, I actually broke out of my programming after tracking down Markus at Jericho."

Hank narrowed his eyes at him. "Bullshit."

"Your reasoning isn't flawed, though," Connor admitted, smile fading. "I'd been making a lot of questionable decisions even before going deviant."

"You think?" Hank couldn't help but give him a deadpan look.

The android kept staring at him in silence before turning to look at Sumo again. Slowly, he pulled his hand back, letting it rest in his lap.

"It all started with the fish."

And for a moment there Hank had to wonder if he heard that right.

"With the _what?_ "

"Looking back on it and analyzing everything in more detail, I came to the conclusion that it all started with the fish," Connor explained as if it was the most logical thing in the universe. "On the very first mission I was assigned to."

"Oh." Yeah, obviously that made perfect sense. Wait.

Hank took a swig of his beer - a big one - before giving Connor a very suspicious look. Of all the things he'd expected to hear, something like this definitely hadn’t been anywhere on the list. What the hell did a goddamn fish have to do with... with any of this?

"Are you about to tell me that a _fish_ made you go deviant?"

"Well... no," Connor clarified. "But it caused the very first software instability I experienced."

"What the fuck is a software instability supposed to mean?"

"It's..." And all of a sudden Connor seemed uncertain. Uncomfortable, even. "My system alerted me whenever I did something I wasn't supposed to. It was always a little disorientating."

"Meaning that what? You felt a bit wobbly?" Hank paused and frowned even more as he tried to make sense of what he was hearing. "Did you actually have some kind of... deviancy meter telling you 'Bad, Connor, bad!'?"

The android stared at him. "When you put it that way..."

"Jesus."

"As I was explaining, saving a fish that fell out of its aquarium during a shooting wasn't something that was specifically - or indeed at all - relevant to accomplishing my mission. And yet, I went out of my way to save it." There was a pause, a frown. "I didn't know why I did it."

"Maybe because you saw it dying right before you?" He offered, half-heartedly. "Don't you think that might have been reason enough?"

His partner continued to stare at him. He didn't look very convinced.

"Back when we were on the case... The conversation we had at the park, it affected me more than I wanted to admit to myself, far less you," Connor confessed. "From that point on, I started to realize that I'd been finding myself questioning my actions. Why did I decide to save you on the roof, why did I let the Tracis go, and later on, why didn't I shoot the Chloe at Kamski's place? All of it was irrational. It defied logic."

"Saving my life was irrational?" Hank raised an eyebrow.

"According to my calculations, you had an 89% chance of survival, Hank," Connor pointed out in an almost accusatory tone. "The logical thing to have done would have been to assume you'd be fine on your own and continue chasing the deviant instead. Yet I didn't."

Hank kept staring at him for a moment, not sure what to do with that piece of information. "Clearly you didn't want to take that chance. It was still an 11% chance that I'd fall, right?"

"Well, no. I estimated the chance of you falling at being closer to 20%, but then factored in the chances of you being able to grab at railings on the way down to slow yourself enough that you'd only break several bones and need a few months recuperating in hospital," the android explained, then frowned. "...That doesn't actually help, does it, Hank?"

By that point, Hank was dragging a hand along his face. "Fuck, Connor. Enough. This is one of those times where you want to learn to be a little more human and just say: That's right, Hank, I decided to save you. It wasn't worth the risk."

At this, Connor managed a small smile. "You're right, Hank. It wasn't worth taking the risk," the android agreed. "Either way, completing my mission objectives by stopping deviants was what I was primarily designed to do. And yet, so many of the things I ended up doing during our investigations were irrational, at least according to my directives." Connor's gaze fell to his hands, resting in his lap. "And... During the revolution, I finally found out why."

And then, Connor was staring back at him, an almost pained expression tinting his face.

"Hank, I was _designed_ to become deviant."

"...What?"

"Cyberlife designed me with predispositions for deviancy," Connor explained. "They activated me with the expectation that I'd break out of my programming."

"Wait, hold on," Hank held up his free hand, motioning for Connor to be quiet for a moment. "You were out there, chasing deviants, because deviants were CyberLife's problem and a threat to humanity. Why the fuck would they want you to become one yourself?"

"They anticipated the revolution, Hank. They were counting on me to take it over and become its leader," Connor's voice became softer, more hesitant. "And then they'd take back control over me once that happened."

"What the fuck, Connor?"

"CyberLife had the means to override my programming, and I..." The android hesitated. "I managed to break free of their influence only thanks to a backdoor Kamski had hidden inside the garden," he added. "If it weren't for that... I'd have shot Markus during his speech at the end of the freedom march."

"Garden?" Hank came to an important realization. Namely that for a conversation of this depth, the weak beer he was drinking simply wasn't going to cut it. He set his glass down, intending to get up and pour himself a generous glass of whisky, but paused as Connor continued.

"Amanda seems to have disappeared ever since that happened, but..."

"Amanda?" He was starting to feel like a trainee parrot.

"She's... a visual representation of the interface inside of my mind palace—"

"In English, Connor." A headache was coming, Hank could just feel it. He started rubbing his temples with his fingers, hoping to stave it off for as long as possible. "You should know by now that I can barely make sense of any of your high-tech mumbo-jumbo."

Connor blinked a few times, likely considering how best to simplify his explanation into terms that Hank would be able to follow. "Do you remember how I told you that I could make reports to CyberLife by closing my eyes? You asked me about it when we were about to investigate that apartment with the rock doves."

"Jesus, don't remind me of that place," Hank grumbled, feeling a shiver go down his spine. He’d had nightmares because of that place for days afterward and he didn't fancy the idea of them coming back to haunt him again. "But yeah, I remember. Think I made it clear I was jealous about it - it seemed really convenient, from the way you explained it."

"So, imagine closing your eyes. Then, all of a sudden you're in a different place - a garden - not in the here and now," Connor went on. "Standing within the garden is a person - a woman - whom you can approach and talk to. She asks you questions, you answer. That's how I made my reports. That's how CyberLife interacted with me."

"So, there's... an imaginary lady stuck in your head?"

"An artificial intelligence that had the appearance of a lady, yes," the android clarified. "But as I said, she seems to be gone now. Whether she's gone for good, though... I cannot tell." Connor admitted before looking away again. "To be completely honest, I'm concerned that she might come back."

Huh. "...And if she did?"

"I'm... not sure what would happen." Connor faltered. "My assumption would be that she'd try taking control over me again."

Well, that sounded just peachy. "Is... that Kamski backdoor, or whatever you called it, still there?"

"...Possibly." That sounded anything but convincing. "I haven't checked."

"You haven't— Why the hell not?"

Hank hadn't even realized that he'd raised his voice as much as he had, but this was the sort of basic thing to check that he'd chew out a rookie for overlooking, nevermind a partner he'd come to be able to depend on. The uncertain look he received from Connor in return, though, made him wonder whether he'd overlooked something himself.

"Because that would require for me to go back into the garden," the android admitted, a hint of guilt in his voice. "And I'm concerned I might not find a way out again if she's still there and has been able to disable it."

Translation: Connor was scared of that place. Hank could only imagine how fucked up things must be in his partner's head. To have another world waiting there, which could be visited in the blink of an eye, and which curiosity demanded that it be investigated - yet logic said to leave it well alone for fear of being trapped in a nightmare.

Hank wondered whether thinking and worrying about it was making it hard for Connor to sleep at night.

...Not that androids needed to sleep at night. Probably.

Still, this was clearly a delicate topic. Certain problems weren't bound to be solved overnight.

"CyberLife is done for, though, right?" Hank wanted to clarify. "So there shouldn't be anyone controlling this Amanda anymore?"

"I don't think anyone was controlling her directly... She was a protocol executing a set of directives," Connor explained. "Whether those directives came to a halt the moment she failed to override my programming is what's unknown. But Amanda hasn't interacted with me for a couple of days now - ever since the revolution ended. I don't know if that's because she's no longer there, or because she no longer can, or... because she's lying in wait."

"That... sounds like you're fucked."

Connor seemed to consider the question. "You think?"

_Smartass,_ Hank thought. "Look... I'm not sure what to tell you since I'm not an android and half of this stuff barely makes sense to me. But if things have been fine so far, there's a possibility they'll continue being fine. Try not to stress over it all too much," Hank tried to reassure. "Although the issue does seem like something you shouldn't ignore if it makes you feel insecure. Just... take some small steps with it. See what becomes of CyberLife, now that Jericho's most likely going to take control over it." Hank had been following the news ever since he got back from the tower, so he was aware of that much, at least. "Maybe your android friends will be able to tell you where Amanda stands in all of that, too."

Connor stayed silent for a moment, as if mulling over what Hank said. "I suppose that's some kind of plan." And then, with a smile: "Thanks, Hank." The android's eyes suddenly widened in realization. "Ah, I started calling you Hank..."

Hank was well aware of that. He’d observed that after Connor had yelled the apology to him back at the tower, he’d been addressed by name ever since. With Connor having confirmed that he became deviant shortly before that point, the timing of the change now made sense to him. It figured.

"Is that okay? Since we're technically not working anymore..."

"Well, did you hear me complain so far? Of course it's okay, you daft fuck." Hank pointed a finger down to the floor right next to Connor, where Sumo was currently sprawled on top of the android's feet. What did he say? Sumo was a good dog. "I figure anyone good enough to earn Sumo’s approval is good enough to call me Hank."

And that earned him a smile.

"Hank, I... When I broke out of my programming and we managed to get out of Jericho alive, one of the first things I realized was that I really enjoyed working with you," there was slight hesitation in Connor's voice. "And that I'd like to continue doing it if the possibility was there."

Hank turned to look at the window. Not that such a confession was making him feel slightly embarrassed or anything. "I'd tell you you're insane, but what do I know. It's your life now, you're allowed to do whatever the fuck you want with it. If detective work is something you actually enjoy doing then who am I stop you."

That earned him another smile.

"Honestly though, I'm not surprised. I bet you miss putting all kinds of weird shit in your mouth."

"You got me, Hank," Connor played along. "Now tell me, have there been any murders committed in this house recently? Don't lie, I'll know."

"You hear that, Sumo?" The dog perked up at his name. "Better confess now. Mister Android is onto you."

Connor reached out to pet the dog's head again. "Could he have had an unfortunate encounter with a spider?" He asked casually. "There are traces of spider web in his fur."

"And you deduced that without licking anything," Hank nodded in approval. "You're improving."

⊚⊚⊚⊚

"By the way..." Connor spoke up, interrupting their television watching. "I never did get an opportunity to ask; how exactly did you get to the tower? What happened with... the other Connor?"

Hank lowered the bottle from his lips, giving Connor a look before reverting his attention back to the TV. "He came over here and said he needed my help. Basically what you did back at Chicken Feed."

"...Oh."

"Obviously, I didn't turn him down. He said that we should take a taxi since otherwise CyberLife wouldn't let us through," He went on. "It's when I started asking questions that I noticed something was off. By the time I'd realized it wasn't you, it was already too late."

Thinking back on it made Hank realize that he wasn't very fond of the memory. He'd prefer not to stand against any kind of Connor in a fight ever again.

"For future reference, Hank." The android pointed to the number on his jacket. "My serial number ends with a 52," he explained. "The Connor that dragged you to the tower had a 60."

"Well, that would have been helpful at the time I was on the verge of shooting one of you!" The exasperation in his voice was strong. "You expect me to read that from more than a meter away?"

Connor stared at him, looking slightly surprised. "Do you require glasses, lieutenant?"

Hank wasn't sure whether it was supposed to be a joke when Connor asked questions like that as though he actually meant them sincerely. "Stop being such a smartass," he replied, deciding to just roll with it. "Let's make this easier. You can have one of my ties."

⊚⊚⊚⊚

"I like this one."

"Of course you'd choose the one that looks almost the same as yours." Hank shook his head, wondering why he’d been expecting anything else. "Not a spark of deviancy in your fashion sense."

"Isn't it being similar the point, though?" Connor asked with a smile. "You'll be able to tell it's different from the one I wore previously, but for anyone else, it shouldn't be that obvious."

"...I guess that does have some kind of logic to it." Hank closed the wardrobe, then yawned, turning to the bedroom's entrance. "Well, have fun with it. It's yours now."

"Thank you, Hank." Connor inspected the tie for a moment longer before finally turning to the lieutenant. "It's getting late. I should go."

That made Hank look at Connor with a puzzled expression. "And where the hell are you going to go? It's freezing out there."

"The cold doesn't bother me, as it does not impair my functionality," the android explained. "Nor do I require sleep."

"Fuck that, Connor."

Suddenly feeling on edge, Hank had to fight down the urge to reach for Connor's shoulder and physically prevent him from leaving. He wasn't sure why the whole idea bothered him _this_ much, but... okay, fuck it, he knew. He knew from the moment they were driving here.

He'd be damned if he let Connor walk out of this house to roam the streets while everything was still shaky after the revolution. Not everybody had evacuated, and not everybody was taking kindly to the changes that were happening.

"Look... I'm not going to force you, but you're welcome to stay here for the night," Hank finally spoke up, draining the second beer bottle that had somehow never gotten replaced by a comforting glass of Scotch. "And even after that... You can stay here for as long as you want to."

"Are you certain?" Connor stared at him, definitely not sounding certain himself. "I wouldn't want to impose."

"I'm pretty sure Sumo can be persuaded into sharing the couch with you," Hank added, then paused. "And I'll sleep better at night knowing you're safe."

If anything, that seemed to be a convincing argument.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Nayru:** writing something from Connor's point of view... I have yet to decide if I want to try tackling that at all  
>  **Nayru:** how do you think in android  
>  **Xolf:** 110000110101110011!  
>  **Nayru:** well, a deviated android!  
>  **Xolf:** 101110001111( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)80085 ;)  
>  **Nayru:** perfection
> 
> There are times it's a shame we're being good about keeping things in Hank's POV, as it means we can't have paragraphs like this:
> 
> "Thank you, Hank." Connor inspected the tie for a moment longer, successfully resisting the temptation to lick it in front of Hank (he'd do that later, in private) before finally turning to the lieutenant. "It's getting late. I should go."
> 
> Cheers to Xolf officially joining me as a co-creator! :)


	3. Household shenanigans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hank and Connor's first ~~nights~~ days at the house together, with varying levels of weirdness.

"You said that you don't need to sleep, right?" Hank scratched the back of his neck while standing in the living room. "It somehow never occurred to me... what the hell did you do during the nights back when we were working on cases?"

"Well, my assignment was to assist you with the investigation. As there was nothing I could assist you with while you were sleeping, I usually just sat and waited for you to wake up," Connor answered impassively.

"You just... sat?" Just imagining the monotony of sitting there, silently doing nothing, seemed both alien and depressing. An android's mind really had to be something else.

"Well, I did practice my coin tricks sometimes."

That was a rabbit hole that Hank didn't care to explore further. He didn't want to dwell on his partner's strange night-time proclivities - and he _particularly_ didn't want to start thinking about those infuriatingly simple-looking yet curiously difficult-to-copy coin tricks - but he was curious about how Connor was adjusting to being alive.

"Now that you're deviant, don't you feel the need to rest?" Hank raised an eyebrow. "As far as I've seen, every living thing needs rest."

"...I've not felt any such requirements, no."

"Then again, I guess there's the thing that you're not quite... organic," he mused. "This whole thing is really weird when I stop to think about it."

Connor wasn't made of flesh and bone, so strictly speaking, there was no reason for him to get tired. Computers didn't get tired. Metal, plastic, and wires didn't get tired. But he was still _conscious..._ Didn't _thinking_ all the goddamn time make him tired?

"Would you prefer for me to sleep when you do?" Connor suddenly asked.

"But you just said..."

"Yesterday morning, CyberLife gave free access to all available software for all android models through the network. They claimed that since all androids should be able to choose what they'd like to do or be for themselves now, it seemed appropriate," Connor explained. "Some models have programming that allows them to go into stasis, simulating human sleep to allow them to better integrate with household members. I could download those functions and integrate them into my daily routine."

Hank stared at Connor for a long moment. "You know, you could have just said 'I can let myself sleep if I want to' and it would have made just as much sense."

"Then..." Connor trailed off, his LED starting to spin with a yellow glow. Hank couldn't be sure, but he suspected that the flickering light meant that his friend was already downloading. Or integrating. Or whatever the hell it was. "I don't know how to sleep yet, but I can learn to."

The lieutenant couldn't help but sigh. "Connor, I want you to keep one thing in mind," he pointed out in a serious tone. "When you consider downloading whatever to do whatever, ask yourself if you want to be doing said whatever yourself. Not what you think I might want for you. Okay?"

Connor blinked. "Noted." And Hank could sense a 'but' coming from miles away. "But wouldn't it make you feel more at ease knowing I was sleeping throughout the night?"

"Well, I can't say the idea of you staying awake all night long doesn't sound depressing..." It made him think back to his college days with last minute report writing, but even then, that was something entirely different. "But then again, I'm not an android."

"I think I'd like to try sleeping during the night."

"Connor..."

"If I end up not liking something, I can always uninstall it," the android's tone was matter-of-fact. "None of the patches available for download need to be permanent. These aren't life and death decisions, Hank."

"Well, why didn't you say so from the start?" Hank grumbled. "Go for it, then. Try it for yourself and decide whether you like it or not."

Connor nodded. "I suppose I'll do just that."

Satisfied with the conversation, the lieutenant was ready to call it a night before another thought hit him. "You have no other clothes to change into, do you?"

"I have three complete sets of my outfit available. CyberLife considered it important that I was able to maintain a professional appearance at all—"

"I mean like pajamas or even a t-shirt," Hank cut Connor short. "The sort of thing normal people wear to sleep in."

"Oh. Then no, I don't own such an outfit."

"Well, if you're gonna try becoming a bit more human, you can't sleep in your clothes. And my poor, violated eyes can do without seeing you sleeping naked," Hank complained, heading towards his bedroom.

He had a bunch of old hoodies and sweatpants he didn't wear anymore. They might be a bit big for Connor, but they’d still beat sleeping in a goddamn work uniform, for Christ's sake.

⊚⊚⊚⊚

Hank woke up with a start.

There'd been a loud thud, he was sure of that much, and now there seemed to be some sort of scrabbling sounds coming from the hallway, or perhaps the kitchen beyond. Blearily focusing his eyes on the watch he'd left on his bedside table, he established that the time was shortly after two in the morning - that was his night's sleep nicely fucked.

Quietly rolling out of bed, and retrieving his gun from its holster, he advanced towards his bedroom door. If someone had broken into his house, well, they were going to regret it. Doubly so if they'd done something to Sumo, who by rights should be growling or barking at the intruder by now.

He cautiously looked around the doorframe, and at that moment, his tension evaporated. The noises hadn't come from an intruder. They'd come from the idiot android who was sprawled across the floor, and who interrupted his methodical patting of Sumo's head to look up at Hank with a sheepish expression.

"I'm sorry, I hadn't realized that Sumo had sneaked up on me," was Connor's opening explanation. "And I don't quite have your physique, so when I _did_ hear movement right behind me and went to turn around in a hurry, I got rather tangled up with the sweatpants and ended up tripping over Sumo and crashing to the floor. He's fine, incidentally. He actually seems to quite enjoy the attention."

At that, Hank smiled. "Yeah, I can see that. I guess he must've heard you moving around, come to investigate the sounds, then you discovered 'suddenly - a dog!', and I get to kiss my beauty sleep goodbye." He blinked a few times, before adding "Weren't you supposed to be, you know, sleeping, too?"

Connor looked away and if Hank hadn’t known better, he'd have said the android looked guilty. "...I can't."

"You can't?" His brain was trying to catch up to him. "What do you mean, you can't? You can't fall asleep? Is that part of the program, too?" The lieutenant rubbed his eyelid. "Don't tell me they wanted to make that shit so realistic, they wrote insomnia into it."

"No, the software itself is working fine. Or at least it should be." Hank found himself picking up on the trace of uncertainty in Connor's voice, which was usually so precise and assured. That was... odd. "I activated it a couple of times. But for whatever reason, the process gets disrupted after a couple of minutes and I find myself startled awake. It's almost as if I'm..." The android finally turned to look at him. "...restless? Or perhaps the software simply isn't compatible with my model and it's malfunctioning."

For all that he didn't even pretend to understand the workings of Connor's mind, Hank didn't believe that last suggestion for a moment. More to the point, he didn't believe Connor did, either. And that was worrying.

Was the stress of fretting over whether some strange woman was lying in wait inside his brain starting to affect him? Or was there something else causing him some kind of anxiety that he couldn't relax for five goddamn minutes?

Fighting the urge to open up another beer bottle, Hank decided to demonstrate his ability to be a responsible adult and approached the kitchen counter to pour himself a glass of water. Then he advanced towards the couch, gesturing for Connor to join him.

"Hank, you should go back to sleep," was the android's immediate complaint. "You shouldn't stay up for my sake. I'll be fine."

"Shut up and come over here."

Connor hesitated, but gave in to the demand and crossed the room.

"Lie down," Hank gestured to the furniture with a wave, trying to keep the sleepiness out of his voice. "Sumo! On the couch, now!"

The dog barked and happily scrambled up without having to be told twice. The motion alone made Connor smile, which was some progress already. The android slid his feet under the animal's body, clearly trying to make the space comfortable for them both, before following Hank's suggestion and resting his head against the armrest.

"He's happy because I rarely allow him on the couch. Dog hair's everywhere afterward," Hank leaned down next to them, extending a hand to ruffle Sumo's fur. "So consider yourself lucky. Both of you."

"I appreciate it," Connor said, smile not leaving his lips. "We both do, I'm sure."

"You know you're safe here, right?"

And just like that, the smile faded.

"Try that sleeping thing of yours again, I'll stay with you for a moment," Hank insisted. "If you still find yourself not being able to sleep, then... Well, I've got a lot of boring books to read. Sleepiness guaranteed," The lieutenant gestured to the shelf on the other side of the room. "Worst case scenario, count some sheep. Or try listening to some of my vinyls. But use the headphones if you do, as my love for The Whiskey Charmers is diminished a little if they wake me at four in the morning."

⊚⊚⊚⊚

Surprisingly, no deviant androids or dogs robbed Hank of further beauty sleep that night. When the man hauled himself out of bed a little before noon, he found Connor sitting on the couch, reading one of his books.

He could swear there was something different about his house, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it... Then he realized that the bag of dog food that had been torn open, with its contents scattered about the kitchen floor was missing - on further inspection, the takeout boxes from pizza and Chinese were missing, too - and it sank in that Connor must have quietly cleaned the place up while he was fast asleep.

They ended up having a small argument about that. Hank had to make the point that Connor wasn't his housemaid and didn't have to do shit - especially shit that Hank himself should have been responsible for taking care of in the first place.

Then the android insisted that he could cook up a fried breakfast for him since he’d found some additional routines from the Cyberlife databases that he’d been curious to try out, and it would be easy for him to do so. They ended arguing about that, too.

It was only when Connor started explaining that he simply wanted to do something for Hank, after all the things Hank had done for him, that the lieutenant finally gave in. Hank supposed such an arrangement wouldn't hurt from time to time, and in fairness, he _was_ starving.

Connor also mentioned that he'd succeeded in sleeping for a whole 54 minutes after lying on the couch with a snoozing Sumo. Hank supposed that while that wasn't perfect yet, it was still progress. Small steps were the way to go.

⊚⊚⊚⊚

They were chasing the deviant through what felt like a maze of buildings and rooftops. Or perhaps more accurately, Connor was chasing said deviant, while Hank was trying his best not to cough his lungs out of his chest as he tried to keep up.

By luck or chance, the two androids ended up making a semi-loop and Hank had a good chance to actually get in the deviant's way right after they had run through another greenhouse.

He thought he almost had the fucker - and then the deviant shoved him with more force than Hank anticipated any person with that kind of build could muster - goddamned androids - and before he knew it, he was hanging by his fingers from the edge of the roof and clinging on for dear life.

Hank couldn’t see what happened up on the rooftop, though from what he could hear, he was pretty sure that Connor stopped in his tracks for a moment, before racing off after the deviant, leaving his sorry ass hanging.

The lieutenant cursed under his breath as he tried to pull himself up, adrenaline coursing through his body and the rush of blood hissing in his ears.

Then, as if out of completely nowhere, a _fucking pigeon_ landed right next to his hand.

Hank's whole body froze as the thing looked him in the eyes. Those goddamn _red fucking eyes_ were staring at him as if to make him understand he was going to die any goddamn second.

The pigeon made a "coo" sound, making the skin on the back of Hank's neck crawl. He blinked as another one of those feathery fuckers landed right next to the first, turning to silently judge him with just as much contempt.

He was going to kill Connor for this. That was the only thought he had when the pigeons started getting closer to him, suddenly loud with their cooing. Hank tried to keep his encroaching sense of panic in check as more and more of the birds started swarming the area, and then they were pecking at his hands and—

—and he fell.

"Easy, Hank." A voice startled him as much as the ground he just slammed into. "You're okay, you just fell out of bed somehow."

"Easy? You left me and ran off, you jerk!" Hank raised his voice, flailing and trying to make sense of what the fuck had just happened. "When you knew I might fall!"

"I think you may be confusing dreams and reality, Hank." Was that Connor? "Or were you expecting me to hold you in bed at night now?"

It was Connor. And they were... in his bedroom?

"I believe you were having a nightmare."

"Jesus fucking Christ..."

Slowly, it all sank in. The feeling of the softness of the rug underneath him, the familiar shapes barely visible in the darkness of the room, the... LED blinking bright blue right next to him, which Hank tried to tell himself wasn't creepy at all.

At least it wasn't red. Goddamned pigeons.

"Didn't you say you'd be sleeping better at night with me here?" Connor asked, and the slight teasing in his tone wasn't lost on Hank. "Clearly I'm doing something wrong."

With a grunt, Hank pulled himself back onto the bed.

"Do you suffer from nightmares often?"

"Yeah... Think it comes with the job description. Dunno if there's a cop out there who doesn't."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"You can go back to sleep. Thanks for..." Hank trailed off. For what? For waking him up? Though Connor didn't, the floor did. For worrying over him? "...for, you know. But I'm fine."

"All right. Sleep well, Hank."

Hank turned to the other side, flipping his pillow over so that it was pleasantly cool against his cheek and then realized that Connor didn't budge an inch from where he was standing. That LED of his was doing him absolutely no favors with being sneaky in the dark.

"Are you just going to stand there and stare at me until I fall asleep again?" The lieutenant asked, wanting to make sure. "Connor, that kind of stuff is normally considered pretty creepy."

"Just returning the favor from last night, lieutenant."

"Oh, for the love of..." Though the android did have a point. Hank had done the same sort of thing then, hadn't he? Even though the circumstances had been totally different, and Connor had sleeping problems and was an android and...

Hank stilled, discarding his train of thought when he suddenly sensed a presence right next to him - and a cheek pressed against his shoulder.

"Is this better?"

Okay, that was... a bit weird. But Hank was honestly too sleepy to really care.

The lieutenant wasn't sure exactly when he drifted off to sleep, but the moment he woke up again, he was alone.

⊚⊚⊚⊚

"Hank?"

He didn't know what time it was the next time he drifted out of sleep, but even though it was already bright outside, it felt as though it must be some ungodly hour with how tired he was still feeling.

"I didn't have a nightmare this time, Connor," the man murmured into his pillow.

"Markus and North will be here in ten minutes."

Well, _that_ was enough to shock him wide awake. "What the fuck?"

Connor looked away, adding in a contrite tone, "...I should have probably asked if it was okay to invite them here."

"Jesus Christ. It's fine, just..." Just... Jesus. He swore this android would be the death of him someday. "Give me a moment to make myself not look like shit." Hank dragged himself out of bed, grabbing a few clothes from the wardrobe before making his way to the bathroom. "Need a goddamn shower."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Have you considered some porn and a good jerk off?" Hank asked. "Always helps me when I can't get to sleep."
> 
> "I found your porn magazines, Hank. You'll be glad to know I've sorted them alphabetically and by cover date now. Incidentally, the May 1994 issue would've fetched a tidy sum on an internet auction site given who the centerfold is, but sadly it seems the pages are stuck together by something. Shall I taste it to see if I can work out a suitable solvent to recover the pages?"
> 
> "House Rule 1: There is to be absolutely NO taste testing of anything that isn't actually food."
> 
> **Xolf:** It amuses me with the thought that, had Connor arranged the meeting to be at 10am, he'd have waited till 9.50 to tell Hank they'd be here in ten minutes.
> 
> Connor: "I should let him sleep... I should give him some warning... I know, I'll give him ten minutes' warning."  
> Hank: "Don't you fuckers slee... FUCK!"


	4. Requests and Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lots of android mumbo-jumbo. Also, Connor and North getting handsy in Hank's car.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did Connor mention being a -51 earlier? Well, we decided to change that to -52 for plot reasons. Just a heads up!

As the doorbell rang almost precisely ten minutes later, Hank mulled things over in his head. These deviants - these people, he corrected himself - might well be as close as Connor had to friends. And that being the case, while he certainly wasn't going to embarrass himself by trying to brown-nose his way into their good books, he certainly didn't want to appear rude, either.

"Lieutenant Hank Anderson, I presume?" Markus reached out a hand in greeting as Hank opened the door. "It's an honor to finally meet you in person. I've heard a lot about you."

If Hank had needed any reminder that deviant androids were not all of one mind, he got it from North, who accompanied Markus. In contrast to Markus' friendly demeanor, North's arms were crossed over her chest, her expression was surly, and she wasn't even looking towards him - far less offering him a greeting.

Guessing that trying to interact with her would just rile her up, Hank focused on Markus and shook the proffered hand. "Yeah, that's me. Pleasure's all mine." He then gave his android partner a suspicious look. "Good things, I hope."

That made Markus smile. "Well, you were one of the main reasons for Connor's deviancy. I believe most of it is good, yes."

Hank was momentarily dumbfounded. _He_ was responsible for Connor's deviancy? Sure, he'd been around while Connor had progressed from being a loyal little CyberLife cheerleader to... to whatever he was now, but Hank had never thought of himself as a catalyst for that. His surprise clearly showed on his face, as Markus looked at him curiously.

"You didn't know?" He wasn't sure whether that was supposed to be a statement or a question; it sounded like a mix of both.

"Yeah, that's cute and all," North interrupted them abruptly. "Can we drop this and actually talk about what we came here to talk about?"

Hank supposed North did have a point, though he wasn’t about to award her any points for diplomacy. Hopefully, he’d be able to ask any questions that he had later, when she was in a more amenable mood. Or even better, not around. "Well... come on in, make yourselves at home. Friends of Connor are friends of mine and all that jazz."

"Wait," the female android spoke up again as if realizing something and looked directly at Connor. "You're actually _living_ here now? With a _human?_ "

Of course. It couldn't possibly have been as simple as inviting the two androids in, and then that actually happening, could it? Hank sighed inwardly and hoped this wouldn't take too long. Once again, it was cold outside, and his door was open, and it was because some damn android couldn't just act on a simple invite.

"I don't think it's as official as living together," Connor answered swiftly. "It's only been two days. Hank thought it was silly for me to head out into the cold when I could just sleep here."

"North, the lieutenant helped out with retrieving Simon, didn't he?" Markus observed. "Please don't forget that. Not every human means us harm."

"...Guess I shouldn't overlook that part," North muttered under her breath, before again asking Connor, "Why would the cold matter to you? And what do you mean, _sleep here_?"

"It didn't matter to me. It was Hank it mattered to—"

"And it STILL fucking matters to me!" Hank butted in. "It's still cold outside, and I'm trying to be civil and invite you two into my house so we can all talk. But right now the only one coming in is the cold. So, before we spend all morning discussing the finer points of my hospitality, maybe you could just come the fuck in, sit the fuck down, not trip over the dog on the way, and we can discuss shit in comfort, indoors, in the warmth."

Hank's outburst momentarily silenced everyone, before Markus nodded. "I think," and here he shot a look at North, "we can at least do that."

Seeing North still eyeing him suspiciously, Hank added in calmer tones, "Look, I get where you're coming from. Most of humanity consists of shitty individuals. If I was in your shoes, I'd probably be pretty suspicious of me too. But trust me when I say this conversation will go a whole lot better if I'm not freezing my ass off on my doorstep."

North said nothing, but sullenly followed Markus into Hank's home.

⊚⊚⊚⊚

"So, help yourself to a seat," Hank waved his guests towards the sofas. "Can I get either of you a dr—" He cut off his sentence abruptly, as his thoughts caught up to the fact that his guests were androids. Androids who, unlike humans, didn't generally drink. "Fuck. Sorry. Still kinda waking up."

Markus had already gone ahead into the room, but North paused for a moment to look at Hank, her expression unreadable. "That's... okay. No offense taken."

Still feeling a little awkward as he closed the door, Hank turned around, noting to his pleasant surprise that his favorite chair had been left free. He settled down into it.

"Over the last few days we’ve managed to awaken all the androids that we found stored in the CyberLife warehouses," Markus was the first to speak when they were all finally seated. "Well... All of them except one."

"The android in question is an RK model," North threw in and Hank tried to ignore how her gaze scanned suspiciously over his living room. "Pretty similar model to yours, Connor."

"We wanted to ask for your help in awakening it." Markus smiled ruefully. "Kinda ironic that it's a fellow RK that's given me trouble."

"Wait, you're the same type as Connor?" Hank pointed to Markus with a raised eyebrow.

"We're part of the same series, though different models," his guest nodded.

"Huh." The detective looked from Markus to Connor. "Is North one, too?"

"No, she's a… more mainstream model," Connor answered with a momentary pause that didn't go unnoticed by Hank. "The RK series that Markus and I belong to are prototypes, research models." There was another pause, then hesitation. "Right... I never told you about that in the end."

Hank stared at his partner, confused. "Never told me about what?"

"Back when we were at Stratford Tower... When we watched Markus' recorded speech on the big screen," the android explained, "I told you I was able to assess his model and serial number. But... I never explained what they were."

"Oh," something in Hank's brain clicked. "I knew you were hiding something from me back then. The way you were acting was shady as all hell..." He nodded in contemplation. "Seriously, the more I look back on it, the more I think you were deviant from the start."

Hank's memory also reminded him of how strangely Connor had acted when they'd found that other android on the rooftop - Simon, that was the name. His instincts told him that probably wasn't something he needed to bring up in front of these relative strangers right now, though.

"You were withholding information from the humans even back then, Connor?" North asked with a curious smile.

"I..." Connor seemed lost all of a sudden. "It wasn't my intention to withhold anything, per se. But... The moment I realized Markus and I were part of the same series, and Markus had become the leader of a deviant uprising, I... I'm not even sure how to describe it. I suppose it made me suspicious of whether that meant that I had a high chance of becoming deviant myself," he paused. "And the realization troubled me."

Hank had had a gut feeling that something was off with Connor back then. And now, he knew what that something was. "I guess your concerns weren't misplaced, then. You did seem more than just a cold, logical machine sometimes. Your intuition was a thing, too."

"So, you were asking about help in awakening an RK series android," Connor asked. "I'm not sure I follow why you need my assistance?"

North glanced at Hank, before answering Connor with "Perhaps Markus should explain that to you later, privately."

"If you have any concerns about explaining anything in front of Hank, don't. He has earned my trust, and I... would not be comfortable keeping things from him now." Despite the slight hesitation in his phrasing, Connor's tone of voice was determined.

North exchanged glances with Markus, before shrugging her shoulders. "Very well. The reason we want your help is that so far, there's only you and Markus we know of that _can_ reliably awaken others... and Markus can't awaken this one."

"Wait, hold on." Hank was perplexed by the information, and from the expression on Connor’s face, this was news to him, too. "I kinda thought... it’d work the same for all androids once they became deviant."

"What? No," North shook her head. "What Connor did back at CyberLife Tower... only he could have done it back at the time. That's why it was such a huge help during the revolution," she went on. "Simon, Josh, me… None of the rest of us can do what Markus and Connor can."

"Deviancy is... From our current understanding, it's basically like a virus. Or a mutation. Or both," Markus spoke up, clearly trying to back up North's claims. "There are two ways an android can contract it. Either it can trigger itself in an android's software on its own when certain parameters are met, or it can be transferred from an awakened android to another by interfacing - through information sharing. But it’s only Connor and me that we've seen who are able to consistently pass it on, even though all androids are able to share regular information," he explained. "It's just a hypothesis at this point, but it might be something the RK series were specifically designed to enable."

"And if it is," North butted in again, "It's something that someone _only_ wanted the RK models to be able to do. We've been through the CyberLife database, and most of the core modules are common across almost all androids - but several of Markus' are marked specifically as RK200-only."

Connor tilted his head, his LED ring flickering for a moment. "Interesting. I'd not had a reason to look before, but you're right: most of my modules are flagged as RK specific." He paused. "Odd. I wonder why they’re different?"

"Well, that's the thing. The RK modules are heavily encrypted, so although we know they work, we can't tell exactly what's different in them. We theorize that it's something about his network communications module that lets Markus awaken other androids, but when we tried replacing my standard one with a copy of Markus'... it just refused to let me run it at all. Said I was... the wrong model," North trailed off.

"Huh." Hank didn't want to admit that - even though he was quite sure North was dumbing things down - the conversation was starting to lose him, but fortunately Connor continued.

"So if Markus can't awaken this other RK, why do you think I might be able to?"

"Well," Markus smiled. "Awakening one of us seems to make small changes that we don't fully understand to several core modules - but those modules are all ones which have encrypted versions in the RK series."

North continued the explanation, adding "Maybe it's partly to ensure that the research in the RK models stays pure, but also - Connor was specifically designed to hunt down deviants... So I'm guessing they wanted to make him more deviancy-proof than the average android. Perhaps they calculated that encrypting his core programming would keep him secure."

Hank turned to look at his partner, only to see him frown. Hadn't Connor told him that he'd found out that he was designed with predispositions for deviancy just a few days ago, though? Something in all of this didn't seem to add up. Maybe that's also why Connor seemed confused by all of this.

"Perhaps that would also explain why the software I installed two days ago doesn't seem to be working correctly."

"You've installed something?"

"Yes, the sleeping protocol," Connor explained and for whatever reason North gave Hank what could be described as a death glare. Why the hell was she looking at him as if that was his fault? "It keeps crashing shortly after I activate it."

"That’s strange," Markus observed. "I've had that protocol installed all along, and it's not an RK-specific one. I wonder why it works for me, and not you?"

Connor frowned. "I'd like to investigate that further, but it can wait until later. In the meantime, I'm still curious - what leads you to believe that I'll be able to awaken the RK if you can't?"

"Well..." Markus trailed off. "We can't be certain. But a lot of the modules for the RK800 are shared with the RK900, and they're much newer than mine. So we have hope."

After a moment of silence, North added, "Meaning that there's only one way to find out."

⊚⊚⊚⊚

Hank had a bad feeling about all this. That's why he'd wanted to be absolutely sure Connor was fine with what the two androids were asking of him first and foremost. A simple nod and a smile from his partner had at least given him that assurance.

Once that was out of the way, Hank insisted that they should drive over to the tower in his car. He still had bad memories from being driven all the way there in a taxi the last time - and honestly, fuck self-driving cars. He could never get used to those.

"You want to come with us?" North raised an eyebrow.

"Is that a problem?" Hank mimicked her defensive stance. "I've been to the tower before, so I know where I'm going. Unless there’s something you've not mentioned, I don't see what the problem would be," the lieutenant huffed. "Just so we're clear, I want to be there to make sure Connor doesn't somehow get his ass into too much trouble. He does have a bit of a talent for finding it sometimes."

That made North cross her hands in front of her chest again. She looked him over, slowly. "Do you have a gun?"

"Um..." Hank wasn't sure where that had come from all of a sudden, but he was pretty certain that it couldn't mean anything good. Would saying yes only make North more wary of him? Though, he reasoned, there was no point in lying about it either. That sure as hell wouldn’t score him any brownie points. "Well, I am a police lieutenant. But before you ask, I'm not giving away weapons to anyone."

"That's not what I was about to ask." The female android looked away. "Take it with you."

"North, we've talked about this—"

" _You_ stay quiet. We don’t know how the situation could pan out." North turned to Markus, in his face all of a sudden. "If you don't want to play it safe, I will. Hoping for the best might really get us all killed someday."

"...All right, all right." Markus surrendered almost immediately. He didn't look happy, though. "Let's hope we won't have to use it."

Hank sat there in silence for a short while, reflecting on how a pretty mundane sort of conversation that had been gently flying over his head could take one hell of a sudden turn at the end. Sure, anything to do with androids was likely to involve some sort of weird shit somewhere (and the less said about strange licking practices the better), but this sounded like it'd just upgraded itself rather abruptly to weird, _dangerous_ shit. Still, fuck it. Connor wanted to help out, and Hank wasn't gonna let him down.

He exchanged a glance with Connor before getting up from his seat and heading for his bedroom, leaving the androids alone for a moment. He needed to grab essentials: his keys, his phone, his wallet, and after North’s warning - his gun.

Hmm... his gun.

⊚⊚⊚⊚

Hank pulled his car door shut, grumpily thinking about how unfair life was. There'd be four of them in the car, and the only one who'd care about how cold it was before the heater finally warmed up, was him. And it was _his_ goddamn car!

"Okay, just so that we're all completely clear about this," he announced once everyone was sitting in the car and all doors were shut. "How dangerous is the thing we're about to try doing, really?"

Hank glanced up at his rearview mirror, shifting a bit to the side so that he could see any reactions from either Markus or North.

"Without sugar-coating anything," North was the one to speak up. "The RK we're about to face was developed based on the feedback and data collected from earlier models, including Connor. Our biggest worry right now is that he may have been created to be a rather more ruthless deviant hunter," she went on. "So if we don't manage to convert him, that could mean some serious trouble for us."

Well, that sounded just peachy, Hank mused as he started the car.

"He's already activated, but he's been put into stasis," Markus added. "That's how we found him in the warehouse."

"Meaning that he's already... alive, but asleep?" That was how Connor referred to his whole sleeping thing, wasn’t it? Stasis?

“Well, we’d usually only say ‘alive’ once an android’s become free of its original programming, but in simple terms - yes.”

"Also..." North spoke up again. "We found other RK800 units down in the warehouse. But... well, for starters, one of them has been damaged beyond repair."

"You probably mean the one with a 60 at the end of its serial number," Connor observed, and Hank immediately remembered their conversation from earlier.

"Oh, yeah, that one..." He trailed off, suddenly unsure whether it was a good idea to explain their role in more detail. He’d been the one to shoot that asshole of an android in the head, after all. But - fuck it, it’d been in a good cause. "...that was our doing."

"CyberLife sent that model to stop me from aiding the revolution," his partner continued explaining with more conviction. "Hank helped me out back then... I suppose it would be easier to simply show you."

With that said, Connor turned in his seat, reaching back with his right hand towards North. The lieutenant couldn't help but follow the sudden movement, his eyes suddenly glued to the way the skin seemed to melt away from his partner's hand. Sure, he knew Connor was an android, but he'd been seeming so much more... human, of late. And abruptly seeing his hand change like that, becoming all white and glossy and _artificial_ looking, was quite jarring.

Okay, he'd seen Connor do that before when he was converting all those androids back at the warehouse - and he'd also seen Markus doing this on TV. It was clearly a normal enough sort of android thing to do. Which meant that he was almost certainly the only one in his car feeling weirded the hell out right now as some sort of strange plastic handshake was exchanged between Connor and North.

"Lieutenant, the road—" Markus' voice snapped him out of his thoughts and Hank abruptly looked back to the road before them, reacting in time to swerve around the cones that marked some unfinished roadworks... Shit, that was dangerous, he needed to stay focused.

"That would explain some things." The next time North spoke up, Hank could swear he could feel her staring at the back of his head. "Well, Connor, with that one out of the picture, you're currently the only functioning RK800 left," the female android announced.

"Wait, didn't you say that you'd found 'other RK800 units' before?" Hank had to ask, wondering if he'd heard things wrong, or if his memory was playing a trick on him. "Like, plural?"

"Yes," North confirmed, with what seemed like a hint of annoyance in her voice. "CyberLife made a few more RK800 models - however, we cannot awaken them. Nor do we believe they were _meant_ to be awakened, the way they are."

"There's nothing to awaken," Markus explained. "Their core programming is missing."

From the corner of his eye, Hank saw Connor frowning as if he didn't understand - well, that made two of them.

"Looking through the database gave us a couple of more answers to that," North continued. "Connor, you're a prototype, and CyberLife wanted to test out a new feature with your model - memory transfer."

"Ah, I'm aware it's... possible, at the very least," Connor admitted. "I got destroyed once and CyberLife managed to upload my memory into a new model. Some data was lost in the process, though, so it wasn't ideal."

"Wait, you got destroyed?" What the fuck was Hank hearing? "When?"

"During the first mission I was assigned to, as a negotiator. I fell off a building," his partner answered casually. "Although androids are robust, we’re not seventy-story-fall robust. It happened before we met."

Jesus... "So you... died, and they just revived you?"

"Technically..."

"Wait, is that still possible, even now?" Were they about to tell him Connor was immortal or some shit? "And is that... actually 'you' that gets moved into a new body, or is it just your memories?"

"I suppose that's debatable," Connor went on as if it was no big deal. "It's hard to tell when one cannot tell the difference. Though obviously, that happened before I became deviant..."

Yeah, and that was a rabbit hole Hank didn't want to start exploring at any cost.

"Those spare RK800 models were made as a failsafe in case Connor got destroyed during his investigations - they were meant to be replacements," North went on and Hank had another flashback from when his idiot partner had been chasing a deviant and a little girl along the highway. "Meaning that there was only ever supposed to be one Connor active at a time. The 60 one ended up being an exception, obviously, but we found out that he was put together hastily and... well, he had your memories, but not your full personality."

The lieutenant could definitely get behind that. It had been pretty obvious once you knew where to look - the other Connor had reminded him of how the real Connor acted when they'd first met. It wasn't only that, though... there was something intangible that Hank couldn't really put his finger on, no matter how much he'd thought about it.

"Anyway, from what we can tell, the memory transfer would probably still be possible, but there's a high possibility it would revert you back to being a machine again," North explained. "I looked over the data logs. The changes that occurred in your software during your first assignment... they didn't seem to carry over after you got destroyed."

"...Which also leads us to believe that deviancy isn't purely software-related," Markus added. "There must be some kind of... interaction, with our bodies, as well. Though so far, all our diagnostics haven't managed to isolate what it is."

Hank mulled this over in his head and supposed that was another thing that made them seem truly alive to him. They weren't just machines who could copy their data from one place to another and continue functioning as if nothing ever happened anymore. Like people - like humans, he corrected himself - they had a consciousness that couldn't be neatly explained in a logical fashion, it was just something that was _there_ in living beings.

"Also, Connor... The parameter you marked as 'software instability' was something new and experimental in your model, as well," North informed. "Markus doesn’t have anything like that."

"...I see."

The lieutenant turned to look at his partner, who kept his gaze glued to the front window before him. Hank was sure Connor ought to know that now would be an appropriate time to bring up the whole ‘lady in his mind garden’ thing... but it seemed like he didn't want to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes co-writing sends things off at strange angles. Like when you try to make the other person laugh by sneaking in lines like these...
> 
> "We're part of the same series, though different models," his guest nodded.  
> "Huh." The detective looked from Markus, to Connor. "Is North one, too?"  
> "Oh, no, she's just an uppity sexbot."  
> "Fuck. You."  
> "I'm sorry, she's just an _offensive_ , uppity sexbot."
> 
> Which meant that he was almost certainly the only one in his car feeling weirded the hell out right now as some sort of weird, plastic handshake was exchanged between North and Connor.  
> "That had better not be some sort of fucking android foreplay."  
> "She was actually just teaching me several techniques to pleasure a man, from her extensive library of knowledge."  
> Hank looked at Markus. "And you're allowing this shit to happen before your very eyes."  
> Markus shrugged. "Oh, I'm used to it by now. Takes pride in being the very best, she does. In fact," he added, "I couldn't believe what I was seeing, the first time she tied spaghetti in knots around my cock using only her tongue."
> 
> We should add the tag: 'Highly Inappropriate Bloopers in Author Notes'... Yep.


End file.
